Beka Cooper- Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce

Beka Cooper has left her Puppy Year behind, and is now out on her own as a Junior Dog, or guardsman under the Lord Provost of Tortall. But she hasn't had any luck at all with partners- she's on her fourth one now, and he makes her grind her teeth all the time. He's lazy and spends far too much of his time eating, drinking and being convivial. But just when she thinks she's going to rupture something inside from keeping all her ill-feeling in, he tells her that he's cutting her lose as his partner. She makes him feel twitchy and nervous.

Beka is reassigned back to her old partners from her Puppy Days, Matte Turnstall and Clary Goodwin. She's happy to be back with them, but a new unrest is brewing on the streets- colesmithing. Coles are false coins, and the current batch is silver, around a center of plain brass. So many have been coming into the city that prices are going up, and especially with food, where so many poor people are going to starve with the coming winter.

As Bekah and her partners attempt to run down whoever it is passing the bad coins, there are some other changes on the home front- One of the Provost's Scent Dogs that Beka was introduced to in her Puppy days, Achoo, has passed from his primary handler to others, and Beka discovers that her current handler is abusing her. She remonstrates with the man, only to have him thrust the dog on her, telling her to be a dog-handler if she thinks it's so easy.

At home, her constellation-cat Pounce tells her that he's interfered too much in the lives and affirs of people in the city, her and the people around her alike. He'll be missing for much of the next few weeks, which makes Beka cry as if she has lost him for good.

But the problem of the coles is affecting more than just the law-abiding people of the city. Even the Rogues are upset and being affected with all that is going on. One member of the court of the rogue was caught passing silver coins that she thought were good, and the chief Rogue, Rosto, thinks that none of his Rogues are involved- false coin hurts them just as much, if not more than the honest merchants.

But after a city-wide riot over the rising cost of bread, Matte's legs are both broken, and he's confined to a bed, so the Lord Provost sends Clary Goodwin and Beka to the Port City of Port Caynn, since that is where the Coles seem to be coming from. Beka and Clary are sent on the quasi-official mission to find out how the Dogs in Port Caynn do things, while performing a real mission in finding out who is producing all the Coles and letting the Lord Provost know so they can stop him or her or them.

But Port Caynn is a different world from the one Beka is used to. Most of the guards seem to be on the take, and the man in charge down there seems to actually be frightened of the criminals he is supposed to be chasing. As Beka and Clary track down the people responsible, they'll have to be careful not to tread on the wrong toes. Even the Head Rogue of this town, Pearl Skinner, doesn't seem to have the best interests of her people at heart. But when it all goes south, will Beka and her allies be able to pull a victory from the jaws of defeat? Or will the realm crumble under the weight of all those false silver coins?

I liked this second book in the Beka Cooper series. It was quite a wait for it, but given the outcome, and how good it was, I couldn't have been happier. And yes, it's good. No, it's better than good. It's damn near perfect.

Of course, that doesn't mean that only good things happen to Beka. She still has a lot of growing up to do, which means that she has to stop looking to her cat for help and learn to accept normal human help from the people around her. And that's hard for her to do, even after she's beaten nearly to death by two goons upset that she nabbed their brother. That's a hard learning experience for her, but one that stands her in good stead later on. She also has to learn how to speak in public without her voice coming out only as a squeak, and through difficult circumstances, she learns that, too.

But the denouemont of the book has her going beyond bodily weakness to nab the real mastermind behind it all, and nearly dying in the process. And when she finally recovers, the learning process begins again for her, but hopefully, this time she'll be more fortified by the lessons she's already learned. I can't wait for the third book, whatever story it holds, if it in any way compares to this one. Highly recommended.